My son is a big fan of Green Day and I like a lot of their music too.  They have the raw energy of a 3 piece band that reminds me of some of the best punk bands in the early 80’s.  This song has a solid bass and drum line that erupts into a typical Green Day crescendo after the chorus:

There’s a drought at the fountain of youth, and now I’m dehydrating
My tongue is swelling up, as say 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4

Troubled times, you know I can not lie
I’m off the wagon and I’m hitchin’ a ride

Wow, I have seen the future and it is Avego Shared Transport.  This company based in Ireland is actually implementing the Pay4Rides concept that I have been researching for the last few years.  It is very exciting to see them working on this new way to travel.

Their vision matches exactly what I have been looking for.  They are trying to expand the public transit system to run on every road in the country.  All of our single occupant vehicles are wasting a tremendous amount of passenger capacity.

So how do they do it?  Watch this YouTube video for a short explanation and demonstration:

This is a very intelligent combination of 4 exiting technologies to enable shared transport:

1. GPS – satellite tracking easily establishes driver’s daily routes
2. GSM – mobile phone networks connect all participants
3. GIS – geographic information systems enable automatic decision making
4. Web – facilitates communication with all users and ride share web sites

As you watch the demonstration, I think you’ll agree this is a smooth process with enormous potential.  They have addressed 2 of the biggest concerns with ride sharing by offering a system to validate participants and ratings for both drivers and riders.

Yes, it will take time to build a community of users for a system like this.  However increased participation over time will only enhance the number of available rides and riders.  If you take a few minutes to watch the video, let me know if you are half as impressed with Avego as I am.

My friend Mike has recently been doing some consulting work with me and today he shared my weekly commute.  We rotated our mp3 players taking turns as DJ.  We talked, laughed and enjoyed the companionship during the 2 hour ride.

Since we both have a lot of experience with computer software, at one point the conversation turned to how to create a paid ride sharing web site.  We batted around several ideas on how to mix the internet with text messaging to more easily enable riders and drivers to get together.

When I got home tonight, I did some research to see what was already out there and I was surprised to find some very interesting ideas:

• TreeHugger - Car Pooling is Still a Growing Trend
• NY Times - Need a Ride? Check Your iPhone
• Mashable - PickupPal is eHarmony for Hitch-Hikers

So it looks like other people have also been thinking about this and implementing some promising technology.  Take a look and then share your thoughts on using the latest technology to match drivers and riders together.

photo credit: Dave Duarte

With Bruce Springsteen playing the Superbowl halftime show, I thought; why not feature one of his songs this week.  I have been fortunate enough to see Bruce play live a dozen or so times and he always puts on a tremendous show.  In searching for a song to feature, I found this acoustic version of “Reason to Believe”

Struck me kinda funny
Seem kinda funny sir to me
Still at the end of every hard earned day
People find some reason to believe

It is interesting to see how Bruce re-interrupts his own music.  This version is close to the original, although he added some nice slide guitar for spice.  When I saw him on the Magic tour, this song was transformed into an all out rocker complete with Bruce playing harmonica on a bullet microphone and guitars that sounded like ZZ Top.

You see, there are many ways to perform the same song and it just takes some vision, desire and work.  For me, there is reason to believe that we can redesign the way most of us commute.  As we struggle through our current difficulties, what do you find at the end of your hard earned day?

This song by John Mayer has recently been associated with President Obama and his inauguration.  The lyrics are very representative of how powerless many of us feel with our elected officials.  Here, take a listen:

Me and all my friends
We’re all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There’s no way we ever could

Now we see everything that’s going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don’t have the means
To rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change

Hopefully with a new administration, people will lose some of their past apathy and get energized.  There is a strong feeling that President Obama has a certain amount of political capital and goodwill behind his initiatives.  I hope this translates into active participation to ensure good decisions are made by our leaders.

So get involved in change, the waiting is over.

On Monday, we celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  This became a federal holiday when President Regan signed a bill in 1983.  It was then observed for the first time in 1986.

In 1994, this holiday transformed into a national day of community service.  This is not a day to just pause and reflect, but a day to act.  In Dr. King’s spirit of service to others, we need to make this more than just a single day of service.  I hope we all feel compelled to volunteer and try to contribute every day.

President-elect Obama is now calling on all Americans to make an ongoing commitment to our communities. This is a huge opportunity for us to confront many of the problems we face and come together in a shared purpose.  They have created a web site call Renew America Together where you can make commitments and share results with others.

I believe Pay4Rides could evolve into an incredible opening for all of us to give back.  By providing or accepting rides, we would be conserving our vital energy resources and helping our environment.  Many small sacrifices could have an enormous positive effect on our daily lives.  What do you think?

photo credit: Michael Verdi

On Tuesday President Obama will be sworn in with the promise of bringing about real change.  This is a great opportunity for this country and I am hopeful that he can fulfill this promise.

For this week, I went looking for a song about change and I think I found the perfect one.  More than 10 years ago I picked up the album Tall Blonde Helicopter by Francis Dunnery which includes this wonderful song.  I could not find a video for just this song, but the one below features Francis Dunnery talking about his music with the track “I Believe I Can Change My World” playing throughout:

I believed in Mahatma Gandhi when nonviolence was his faith
I believed in Martin Luther when he said “I have a dream”
I believed in Winston Churchill when he said “we stand together”
I believed in Muhammad Ali when he said “it’s not my war”

And I believe in a miracle
And I believe you can be my girl
And I believe how much I love you
And I believe I can change my world

I believe in all the Seth books and the freeing of the mind
I believe in Mother Nature and the spirit of mankind
I believe in Betty Friedan, Gertrude Lawrence and Rosa Parks
I believe in Margaret Sanger, May Magdalene and Joan of Arc

And I believe in a miracle
And I believe you can be my girl
And I believe how much I love you
And I believe I can change my world

I believed in Malcolm X when he said “Brotherhood for all”
I believed in Neville Chamberlain when he said “peace for our time”
I believed in Michael Jordan when he said “whatever it takes”
I believed in all religions untwisted by mankind
I believed in Johnny Lennon when he said “give peace a chance”
I believed in Tonya Harding when she said “I’ll take the blame”
I believed in Abraham Lincoln’s “better angels of our nature”
I believed in Cat Stevens when he said he had to go
I believed in Saint Francis preaching hatred to love
I believe I can change my world

I hope you enjoy this song and embrace the message of change with our new president.  I just have one question, do YOU believe YOU can your world?

One of my best friends is a huge David Bowie fan.  In 2005, Bowie played during the Fashion Rocks event at New York Radio City Music Hall and introduced a new band called Arcade Fire.  The video this week is taken from that appearance with the band doing their song “Wake Up”;

I was originally going to feature the band’s song “No Car Go” since the title fit so well with the theme of this blog, but this performance is just so strong it deserves more attention.  If you have never seen or heard it, spend a few minutes and I think you will become a fan too.

The lyrics of this song are very appropriate since we need to wake up and alter our current habits.  We definitely have to make changes:

Children, wake up
Hold your mistake up
Before they turn the summer into dust

If the children don’t grow up
Our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up
We’re just a million little gods causing rainstorms
Turning every good thing to rust

I guess we’ll just have to adjust

I have never attended an Arcade Fire concert, but they are on my wish list.  The band has such a powerful energy that is very evident in this performance.  Most of their songs start slowly and then build to very soaring climax.  Pay4Rides is just an idea now, but with your help, we can grow this into something much bigger.

The Detroit Lions went 0-16 this year, while the auto makers are going 0-3.  Yes, it has been a rough year in Motown.

There is an opinion piece that ran in the NY Times last month by Thomas L Friedman entitled “While Detroit Sleeps”.  Now no one wants to see the auto industry fail, but he poses the question that we may be spending good money after bad.  You get that feeling of losing in Vegas and then trying to make it back on the next spin of the wheel or deal of the cards.  He equates investing in our current auto makers to putting money into other doomed technologies:

In order for the Big 3 to be a good investment, they need to change their ways.  Since gas prices have fallen so sharply, there is a tendency to delay research on gasoline alternatives.  Unfortunately, we know prices are going to rise again and we need to be better prepared next time oil goes over $100 a barrel.

In a story on Huffington Post called “Is There An Option More Promising Than The Plug-In Electric Vehicle?”, Patrick Takahashi discusses our future options.  He argues for the use of wind and solar energy to charge battery-powered cars.  This will take many years, but we have to make this a priority now.

So what should we do?  Chase our loses while doubling down on a bad hand or quit gambling with foreign oil and make sound investments in gasoline alternatives?  The Detroit Lions fired their GM and coach to change direction from their losing ways.  Sounds like a good strategy that could also be applied to our auto industry.

photo credit: Dave Hogg

Last week I featured Joe Strummer covering a Bob Marley song.  So this week, I figured I should give Mr. Marley his due.  Here is the video for “Could You Be Loved”:

Don’t let them fool ya,
Or even try to school ya! Oh, no!
We’ve got a mind of our own,
So go to hell if what you’re thinking is not right!
Love would never leave us alone,
Against the darkness there must come out the light.

I recently watched the movie “I am Legend” staring Will Smith.  Bob Marley’s compilation of hits is called “Legend” and his music is featured very prominently in the movie.  Here is a quote from IMDB:

Neville: [talking to Anna about Bob Marley] He had this idea. It was kind of a virologist idea. He believed that you could cure racism and hate… literally cure it, by injecting music and love into people’s lives. When he was scheduled to perform at a peace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot him down. Two days later he walked out on that stage and sang. When they asked him why - He said, “The people, who were trying to make this world worse… are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness.”

His music and message still remain vital today.  So even if we are not trying to make the wolrd worse, we are each responsible for our own contributions to the problems of traffic and pollution in our daily lives.   Take a day off from driving to reduce your impact on the environment while helping better the lives of others.